LIFE MIRRORING MYTH: The Hero's Journey

This sequel to Dean’s previous memoir, “Here, There & Beyond,” places in perspective that adventurous period of his life within the mythological framework described and modeled by the renowned mythologist Joseph Campbell called the Hero’s Journey. Campbell extolled that age-old mythological tales together with the life paths of numerous famous historical figures follow a similar life trajectory that he modeled as the Hero’s Journey.That mythological pattern provided Dean with pieces of the puzzle to his own full but seemingly fragmented and varied life experiences by providing the golden thread weaving all the various pieces together into a majestic quilt. Dean’s story chronicles how his life transformed from being conventionally successful according to societal standards but an outmoded existence with respect to his inner yearnings. He is instinctively led at a critical transformative inflection point into one more in alignment with his inner nature which he expressively describes as following the tenets and various phases of the Hero’s Journey. Just as the Hero’s Journey provided Dean an insightful and meaningful way to look back upon his life, so a clear awareness of it can illuminate the way others might perceive their own.